Sam Tillen was pleased with his side’s performance in their opening pre-season friendly against Lincoln United.
The evening ended in a 2-1 defeat for the young Imps, it didn’t dampen the Tillen’s spirits after they worked tirelessly to maintain a strong performance.
Tillen said: “I’m really pleased. We picked up no injuries, lots of minutes for the players and an intense game. I thought the intensity especially in the first half an hour was really high and it gave the lads a taste of what that would be like for them should they step up to that level.
“It’s a really good experience for them, how to manage a game and how to stay in a game so I think we’ve learned a lot.”
The preparation for the season will continue over the coming weeks, with a variety of games to prepare the players scheduled for pre-season.
Tillen explained: “Yeah it’s great, we’ve tried our best over the pre-season to mix our challenges so we’ve got some games where we’re playing teams like West Ham and also men’s sides and teams on a similar level to us.
“With those challenges we can try different things out and experiment, we can test the lads in different ways and tonight was a test that we don’t normally get on a weekly basis with the physicality and the intensity of the first 20 to 30 minutes so it’s a real positive for the boys to experience that.”
The strength of the younger players in the squad haven’t gone unnoticed by the coaching staff, with Tillen praising those who have been performing at such a high level.
He said: “It’s fantastic we had Kenzie Oliver and Max Herbert today who are just finishing year ten so for them to be stepping into this environment and playing against a men’s side is a testament to them, they should be pleased with their performance.”
“It was nice for Kenzie to play with his brother Lewy at the back, I thought the lads who came on did very well, we adapted the shape a little bit and everybody played their part in a decent performance.”
City will face Northampton Town’s youth side after a short tour in the Lake District to build chemistry within the squad, and the mindset for the team was made clear by Sam Tillen as pre-season continues.
He said: “We’ll look to dominate the game in possession, out of possession carry on the behaviours that we’ve looked at in the first two weeks in terms of being intent and being relentless.”